Solar Blinds do they work?

guscraig247

The back bedroom in my house catches the sun all day and becomes uncomfortably warm, due to ill health my gran is going to move in with us and this is going to be her room, I have just redecorated and put in a chair and TV so she can use the room as a sitting room/bedroom bu am worried about how hot it gets. I have seen several sights advertising solar blinds but can find no reviews on how effective they are at keeping a room cool, and at £150+ dont want to purchase a product which doesn't do the job.
Anyone had any experience of them or suggest a more effective alternative, any advice appreciated.

sunshinetours

A blackout blind (preferably white) will do pretty much same job and you can buy them from £10 or so in Argos and such places

Key thing is to not let too much direct sunlight into the room in first place and if warm temps outside keep windows closed against your instincts as stops the warmer air getting in first place

if its that bad your £150 may be better spent on a mobile air con unit whoch can be used to keep room cooler in hotter part of day

guscraig247

Thanks for the reply, I have looked at blackout blinds but liked the fact the solar blinds still let in light and would also be useful in winter as they are supposed to keep the hat in as well as out , may have a look at the portable aircon but wanted to avoid using any excess electricity.

Jaynne

A regular ceiling fan or floor fan would be cheaper to run than an aircon.

My preference would be for the ceiling fan, we have one as our bedroom also gets the sun all day and can be very hot in summer as there is also the hot water tank in the room so we have it on all night. Ceiling fans have bigger blades than floor fans so are quieter for the same amount of air moved. Ours also has a remote so you don't have to stretch to get the cord to turn it on.

sunshinetours

Fans don't cool rooms down though. They simply move air round which creates draughts and makes you feel slightly cooler. You still need something to keep heat out in first place to keep the ambient temperature of the room cooler or something to cool it down like air con

£150 for a see through blind sounds horribly expensive - a window tint of some sort may be more eeffective or a new D/G window unit with a tint if paying that sort of money

Jaynne

sunshinetours wrote: »

Fans don't cool rooms down though. They simply move air round which creates draughts and makes you feel slightly cooler. You still need something to keep heat out in first place to keep the ambient temperature of the room cooler or something to cool it down like air con

£150 for a see through blind sounds horribly expensive - a window tint of some sort may be more eeffective or a new D/G window unit with a tint if paying that sort of money

You're right they don't so you still dehydrate quicker which in an elderly person is bad.

I think its telling that whenever I've been to a hot country none of them have bothered with fancy solar blinds they use shutters, or heavily backed curtains/blackout blinds plus air conditioning or ceiling fans. They're what I'd focus on as any light in equals heat in.

guscraig247

Thanks for the replies,
My Gran tends to avoid using any electricity if possible, everything gets unplugged and she tends to leave the lights off for as long as possible. So I will def have to avoid anything electrical as I know she is not going to use it.
Thanks for the responses may have to look at shutters, as I reckon she will end up sitting in the dark if I put up a blackout blind and I have experimented the last couple of days by keeping curtains closed but didnt really impact much in terms of keeping the temperature down.

andrew-the-cat

Consider moving her to a room which is not south facing. Keeping the heat out in the first place is the problem - double glazing does a fantastic job of keeping it in (which is good for the winter but not so much for the summer). Any electrical device will generate heat, you'd be surprised how much warm air a TV or computer produces.

If going down the air conditioning route then a split system would be your best bet, they are hugely more efficient than portable units and you also benefit from the noisy bit being outside of the house (try sleeping with a portable air conditioner on in the room, it isn't easy). They can also be used for heating in the winter and certain models can be four times cheaper to run than central heating for doing the same job (albeit only for a single room).